Should you hire, or go fractional?

Recruiting and hiring executive roles may be challenging and costly; fractional leaders might be an effective solution.

For certain positions, particularly executive roles, finding the perfect fit can be a challenge. This presents an opportunity to deepen our understanding of our business and the specific activities we aim to enhance, ultimately leading to more informed and strategic hiring decisions.

If you haven’t injected external perspective at least once, to challenge the status quo, how can you possibly create a position description, or for that matter, have conversations about what you think needs to be done to change? Consider a smaller organization that appears financially stable yet lacks the necessary data to make strategic decisions about introducing new offerings to its clients. Recruiting and hiring the right individual for this role on a full-time basis can be both challenging and costly, particularly if the need is only temporary or seasonal. In such cases, engaging a fractional resource may be a more effective solution. This approach allows the organization to benefit from expert guidance, fresh perspectives, and strategic experience without the commitment of a full-time hire.

Perhaps this is less important for a business or team that is performing well and the primary objective for making a hire is to simply manage what already exists. But if you want a change agent to drive improvement within an organization, it will probably take more than one attempt to get it right. Primarily because the first person will spend more time discovering underlying issues than the current team has been able to do.

Given that, it seems logical, particularly for organizations in trouble, to inject fractional perspective prior to hiring full-time employees.

TAKE ACTION: Put someone on contract in charge of solving a particularly thorny problem. See what they elevate to the surface. Use that knowledge to better hone the data set with which you hire.

Maintain transparency and honesty with the team regarding this initiative. The objective is not to create confusion or fear, but rather to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the process.

Did you know that Pachydermos offers Fractional CXO services? Reach out to us at info@pachydermos.com for more information. Let us know how we can help.